Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has backed Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal all to progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

City have been drawn against Spanish giants Barcelona in the last 16 of Europe’s premier club competition, while Arsenal will take on AS Monaco and Chelsea will face Paris Saint-Germain.

Of the three Premier League clubs still left in the Champions League, Arsenal have the easiest tie on paper.

As for City, many would expect them to bow out of the competition as Barcelona are one of the favourites, although Chelsea will be backed by many to get the better PSG in what should be a closely-fought tie.

Scholes, a former United midfielder, believes that all three English teams will qualify for the quarter-finals and wrote in The Independent: “I am tipping Manchester City to eliminate Barcelona from the Champions League over two legs.

“Of course, much depends on form and injuries at the end of February, but I think the approach used by Manuel Pellegrini against Roma worked well…

“Chelsea have the hardest draw to my mind. They have got better since last season but so too have Paris Saint-Germain and they will be that much more experienced in Europe. I expect all three English clubs to go through, but it will be tight.”

Subhankar Mondal

A football journalist based in Wakefield, Subhankar Mondal has previously worked for Goal.com International and Skysports.com, and has had his sports articles published in The Guardian and The Observer. He has also been on the BBC in the past and his name once found its way to the pages of the World Soccer magazine. He was recently cited in a major Louis van Gaal biography.